Samsung pals up with PayPal to take on Apple

Samsung is going head-to-head with Apple as the company moves to bring mobile payments to its smartwatch range.

Business Korea has reported that Sammy has enlisted PayPal to work on its smartwatch payment programme, meaning we could soon be paying for our weekly food shop with our wrists. The news comes as the wearable payment market hots up, with Barclaycard starting its own bPay wearable band, which can be tied to any debit or credit card for contactless payments on the move.

Also on board the Samsung payments bus is biometric experts Synaptics, recruited to work on fingerprint sensors that will verify payments made from the watches.

According to Business Korea, this fingerprint payment tech could hit Samsung's smartwatch range as early as third generation models, released in early 2015.

Adding fingerprint verification to Samsung's smartwatch range lends itself to tie-ins with countless apps and services, significantly expanding what Sammy's range is capable of. Plus, an early 2015 release will see its tech go head-to-head with Apple Pay on the Apple Watch, making direct comparisons more than likely.

The latest round in the endless battle between Samsung and Apple aside, this move could really push wearable payments into the mainstream. With so many big-brands involved, and the small matter of 152 million existing PayPal users, it seems fast payments could emerge as one of the key usage benefits for smartwatches.

While we wait for fingerprint tech to hit Samsung models, decide which one is right for you with our Samsung Gear round-up